A wide-ranging SupplyChainBrain Roundtable discussion about how companies are meeting the challenge of big data, the Internet of Things and the need for change management - all with the goal of improving the planning function and achieving end-to-end supply-chain visibility. Featuring Trevor Miles, vice president of product innovation with Kinaxis; Mark Ramirez, chief technology officer with Trinity Rail; Josh Greenbaum, principal of Enterprise Applications Consulting; and Bob Bowman, managing editor of SupplyChainBrain.

Analyst Insight: Improving supply chain visibility has been a major emphasis for supply chain executives since at least 2010, when it became apparent that better visibility into the end-to-end supply chain can lay the foundation for business stakeholders to connect and collaborate within their value network. Rapidly improving technology, including RFID and sensor networks, has made it easier to track assets and products as they move through the entire supply chain. - John Johnson, Senior Content Specialist, Gartner Supply Chain

Checkpoint Systems Inc., a vendor of merchandise-availability applications for the retail industry, has collaborated with Microsoft Corp. to bring its Checkpoint RFID software to the cloud, and enhance it with Microsoft analytical tools.